Today’s message is titled, “I Will Give You This Land Forever.”

There are many gods in this world. Depending on which god you meet, your whole life can turn out completely different. If you happen to encounter a god with a vicious nature, your life will be ruined. That is why it matters so much which god you meet. Most gods do not ask our opinion at all. They simply intrude and use our body, our mind, and our life however they want. But the god we come here to meet at church is different. He never forces Himself against our will.

Let’s think about when we get on an airplane. There’s economy class and business class. Personally, I’ve never flown business class—I’ve only heard about it. It’s a better seat. It’s expensive and the service is better. Of course, even in economy class we get that question too: “Chicken or beef?” But in business class it goes beyond that. They even ask, “How would you like your meat cooked?” “What would you like to drink?” “What would you prefer for dessert?” They ask these questions in detail. Why is that? It’s because they show greater respect to these passengers. In some airlines, especially when I used to fly often in China, it wasn’t like that at all. There were many airlines where they didn’t ask people anything. They just handed out the meal—almost threw the box at their passengers. There was no choice. That’s disrespect. But the better the service, the more they respect their passengers, and the more they ask. And if we say we don’t want it, they don’t force it on us.

But how do the gods of this world treat us? The gods of the world force their way in even when we do not want them. But God, the One we believe in now, this god does not overstep our will. I don’t mean He denies His own will—He never overrides our will. In the past, I used to think, “Well, God is God, so He must simply do whatever He wants.” But when we look carefully at the Bible, we realize that’s not the case. Yet many people still misunderstand. They think, “Since God is almighty, He will take care of everything on His own,” or “If something is really good for me, God will force it on me anyway.” That is a mistake. To clear up that misunderstanding, our Senior Overseer, Pastor Ki-Dong Kim, once said something memorable: “God does not overstep certain things.” Even though He is Almighty, there are some things He does not overstep.

When I first heard that, I was deeply struck. Because it meant this: God does not overstep my will. Even when I was a child, my own mother would often override my will. She would insist on giving me something, saying, “This is all for your good!”—forcing it on me whether I wanted it or not. But our God is not like that. He never forces anything on us. He greatly respects our will.

So if we choose a curse, then we will receive a curse. God cannot forcibly help us. He can only guide us and tell us, “Do not choose that way.” But the choice itself is ours. And if we choose a curse, then we will receive that curse in full. That is why he says, “Believe in Jesus.”

If He were going to make us believe by force, then why would He say, “Believe”? If God set His mind to it, He could force the whole of humanity to believe in just one day. He could send angels to appear in dreams and vividly threaten people. Or, like the man called Paul in the Bible, who went through a mysterious experience on the road—on his way to kill Christians, Paul suddenly had a dramatic encounter. God could do that as much as He wants, but He does not. Instead, He lets people make a choice. He tells them what is good and what is evil, and He lets them decide.

This is why our God is different from the many gods in this world. He is not like them. He is so unique that you could say, “There has never been anyone like Him.” In many ways, He stands apart. That is why we call our God “the one and only God.” We say, “He is the only god.” But do not misunderstand this. It does not mean there are no other gods in the world. There are many gods—but there is no one like Him.

And to those who love Him, who serve Him, and who are willing to enter into a covenant with Him, God gives this command: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” He sets this as the condition of His covenant. That is why we must clearly understand who this god is, what he can give us, and in turn, what we must do for himbefore we enter into a covenant with him. It is not about believing by force; it is about making a covenant. This is why the Bible is divided into two parts. What are they called? “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament.” Testament means covenant. So right now, we are saying that we are making a covenant with this god. Of course, I myself have already entered into it.

So then, with whom did this god first make a covenant? About four thousand years ago, this god made a covenant with one man. The place where he lived is what we now call Iraq. Back then, it was known as Ur of the Chaldeans. The name of the man the god chose was Abram. It was to Abram that this god first appeared. Of course, he had appeared before that as well, but he appeared then in order to make a covenant officially. That was about four thousand years ago.

When you hear “four thousand years ago,” your eyes should light up. Why? Because we are living four thousand years after that time. That means we can see whether that covenant was kept or not – the covenant this god made with Abraham. We are now in an age where we can know whether it was fulfilled. That is a great blessing. So we do not just follow this god blindly. Instead, we can see: “Does he really keep his promises? Does he truly have the power to fulfill them?” And based on that, we can decide to make a covenant with him. If someone chooses not to, that is their choice.

When this god first appeared to Abraham, what did he say? “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” That is what he said. So Abraham realized that this god was different from all the other gods. Through that short encounter, he came to know this, and thus followed this god. From there, he set out from Iraq, traveling up along the river. Then he crossed the river into a completely unfamiliar land. Once he crossed the river, he was in a totally different place from where he used to live—a place where he didn’t know what dangers might lie ahead. He journeyed down, following the eastern side of the Mediterranean coast, until he came to the land that is today called Israel.

Now, where is the land of Israel located? It is right at the point where Africa, Asia, and Europe meet. To the west of Israel lies the Mediterranean Sea. To the east stretches a vast desert. And in between those two lies this land. It is a very fertile region. This is the land of Israel—the very land we are talking about. Back then, it was called the land of Canaan. The Dead Sea is there. The Sea of Galilee is there. And places you hear about today—like the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv—are all part of that region.

And when Abraham finally arrived there, what promise did God make? He said, “All the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” That was His promise: “I will give this land to you and your descendants forever.” However, at that time, Abraham was all alone. It was just him and his household. God was not making this promise to a nation of millions. He gave it to one man, the head of a single family. And what is even more striking is that Abraham had no children at all. Yet God told him, “Your descendants will inherit this land. Your offspring will become as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. You will become a great nation.” And how old was Abraham then? He was over seventy-five years old—an elderly man, already a grandfather in age.

And then more time passed. Even until Abraham was ninety-nine years old, he still had no children. But here was the greater problem: the man was ninety-nine years of age, and his wife was almost ninety. The time of childbearing had already ended for her. Physically, she could no longer have children. Yet even then, this god still said he would keep his promise. It was truly difficult for Abraham to believe the word of this god. By the time he turned ninety-nine, perhaps he thought, “Maybe I was deceived. I left my homeland when I was seventy-five, and for twenty-four years I’ve been wandering, and still I have no children. I must have been fooled.” That could have been his thought. But rather than dwelling on such doubt, what he longed for was the fulfillment of that promise. So at ninety-nine years old, this god appeared to him again and spoke these words: “At this time next year, you shall have a son.” That meant in the year when Abraham would turn one hundred.

But this promise was different from the ones before. The earlier promises were things like, “You will become a great nation.” To actually see that with your eyes would take hundreds, even a thousand years. Or “Your descendants will rule over this land!” That, too, was indefinite. For Abraham himself to witness his descendants ruling the land, he would have to live for a thousand years. But look at this promise given when he was ninety-nine: “At this time next year, you shall have a son. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son.” What is different here? A time frame was set. This time next year. That meant by the next year, Abraham would know whether this god was real or not. If no son was born, then every promise he had spoken was a lie. But if a son was born, then he truly was who he said he was. Still, the idea of a son being born seemed impossible. Yet if it did happen, then Abraham would know: This god is the one who makes the impossible possible, wouldn’t he?

From that moment on, Abraham waited with deep longing for a child to be born. As time went by, his wife’s belly began to swell. Abraham must have been anxious, wondering, “Is she really pregnant, or is it just that she has been eating more these days?” But when the full year had passed, a child was born. A remarkable thing had happened. The impossible had come true. At that moment, Abraham gained proof that all the things to be fulfilled a thousand years later were also real. He had once thought, “How could I ever have descendants like the stars in the sky, when I don’t even have a single son?” Yet when this impossible promise was fulfilled the very next year, he knew that even the things to come a thousand years later would surely be fulfilled. He realized, “Yes, this god truly keeps his promises. And if he has turned the impossible into reality, then his promise to give us the land of Canaan will also come true.” So Abraham knew without a doubt that his faith was not in vain, and he continued to follow this god.

When the boy had grown—though the Bible does not say exactly how old he was—some say he might have been about fifteen. Let’s assume he was around that age. At that time, God gave Abraham another command: “Offer your son to Me as a burnt offering.” What is a burnt offering? It is a sacrifice, something to be burned on the altar. Just as a lamb would be burned as an offering to God, Abraham was told to offer his son. This was no ordinary matter. Should he consult his wife or not? If he told his wife, surely she would stop him. But then he would end up disobeying God. Abraham wanted to obey God, but if he sacrificed his son as a burnt offering, then how could God’s promises be fulfilled? God had promised him, “Your descendants will be many, and they will inherit and conquer the land of Canaan.” If his son was gone, how could those promises ever come true? If it had been me, I might have thought, “This must not really be God’s will!” But Abraham did not think that way. He simply went, and he was ready to offer his son.

But when Abraham was about to offer his son, he did not weep and cry out, “Oh, I love God more than my son!” He did not make such a scene. He simply offered him, as though it was nothing unusual. And then he said something remarkable. As he set out for the place of sacrifice, he told his servants, “We will go, and then we will come back to you.” Now think about that. If he and his son went up together, and the son was to be offered as a burnt offering, how many would return? Only one. But Abraham said, “We will come back.” What kind of faith was inside Abraham? It was this: “If God tells me to offer him, then I will offer him. Why? Because even if I kill this son, God has already spoken His word, and He will surely fulfill it.” What had God said? “Your descendants will be as the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore.” And God had said that it would be through this very son that the promise would come true. Therefore, Abraham surely believed, “That word must be fulfilled! I may kill him, and once I do, he will indeed be dead. Yet for him to return with me and become the father of many children, there is only one possibility. God will raise him to life again.” This was Abraham’s faith.

Abraham’s faith was this: he believed that God could raise the dead. And because of that faith, Abraham became the father of our faith. Among the many gods in this world, what kind of god did Abraham believe in? He believed in the god who can bring the dead back to life. And remember, his wife’s womb had already ceased to function. Yet Abraham still believed that she could bear a child. He believed in the god who calls into existence the things that do not exist. This is exactly how the Bible describes it in the Book of Romans: the god whom Abraham believed is the one who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. That is the god Abraham trusted. And this faith is the very heart of our faith. The god we believe in today is the same god—the god who gives life to the dead and who calls into being the things that do not exist. He is the almighty god.

Our Pastor Ki-Dong Kim once prayed for a man who was suffering from tuberculosis. He was in critical condition, wasting away and near death. But after Pastor Kim prayed, the demon left him, and he was completely restored. He was able to walk around, go out to gather firewood, and even help the pastor with his ministry. While traveling with Pastor Kim to another region, a doctor there said, “Let’s take an X-ray.” The man agreed. At that point, he believed with all his heart that he had been healed of tuberculosis and even lung cancer. He had no shortness of breath, no pain—he was living normally. So he thought, “Let’s have proof.” He took the X-ray. But when the results came back, what did they show? His lungs were gone. Completely destroyed. And yet he was still alive and moving about normally. When he saw that result, instead of rejoicing, he was shocked. He thought, “I thought I was healed, but I must not be.” And after that, he began to waste away again.

But this man did not realize this. What kind of god did we say our God is? He is the god who calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Even if you have no lungs, this god can make you live as if you do. Even if your liver is gone or badly damaged, when God works, He can use you as though you had a whole and healthy liver. And He is the god who raises the dead. This is the god we believe in today.

As time went on, Abraham’s descendants—the children of Israel—did conquer that land. They truly took possession of it. And his offspring multiplied until they became the nation of “Israel.” About a thousand years after Abraham, they had become the strongest kingdom in that region. In the days of King David and King Solomon, they rose to great power and prosperity. They became a mighty nation. And so the promise God had given to Abraham was fulfilled just as He had spoken.

But as more time passed, Israel was torn apart by internal division, and foreign nations came and invaded until the kingdom was destroyed. The nation was gone. And here is where the question arises: “Why would the nation of God be destroyed? Isn’t that strange? If it is truly God’s nation, shouldn’t it have ruled over the whole world? How could it fall to foreign powers?” Yet this, too, was something God had already spoken about beforehand. He had said, “If you listen to My word, your nation will last long. But if you disobey, commit sin, rebel, and serve other gods, your nation will perish. Foreign nations will come and attack you.” And that is exactly what happened. Still, God had said, “I will give this land to you forever.” He had promised it. So He declared, “I will surely keep My promise.” The nation was destroyed, yet the land was promised forever. Doesn’t that sound strange?

But more time passed. Jesus came and then departed. When He came, what did He say? He declared, “I am the Son of that very God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I was sent by Him.” And then He said these words: “My kingdom is not of this land.” People had been waiting for Him, welcoming Him as the One who came as “the King of the Jews.” Yet He told them, “My kingdom is not in this land.” Later, when Jesus was arrested and brought before the Roman governor for questioning, the governor asked, “Are You a king then?” And Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this land, but it is from heaven.”

He spoke words that people could not understand, and in the end He was accused as a sinner and was crucified. But remember, what kind of God did Abraham come to know? He is the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did, and the God who raises the dead. And at last, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. The very first person God raised from the dead was Jesus. Then God took Him up into heaven. From there, He poured out the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God—upon those who believe in Jesus. That is how even I, standing here today, have received the Holy Spirit, just as they did. And this Jesus is now in heaven.

And when we look closely, we realize something: the land that God promised to Abraham was not merely the land of Palestine, not simply the land of Canaan. It was pointing to an eternal land. And where is that eternal land? Not here on this earth, but the kingdom of God in heaven. This earth will pass away. In the end, it will be cast into hell. But there is an eternal kingdom that God has prepared in heaven. That is the land God promised to Abraham.

Why is this so? Because God said, “I will give you the land forever.” Yet there is nothing on this earth that is eternal. That is why Jesus came and then departed—to make this clear: “You may seek God’s help to live well in this world, and for a few decades you may enjoy His blessings here. But God is eternal. He did not come merely to make your life comfortable for a short while on this earth. His will is to take you out of this world that is destined for destruction, and to bring you into heaven so that you may live forever there.” That is what God wanted to reveal through Jesus Christ.

But does this mean that God will only restore the land in heaven? No—He also promised that He would restore the land of Israel here on earth. Yet remember, the people of Israel were scattered. After Jesus died and ascended into heaven, about seventy years later, the Romans crushed Jerusalem because of their rebellion. Then, about fifty or sixty years after that, they rose up again in another revolt. Once more, they were crushed completely, until not a single Jew remained in Jerusalem. They were scattered throughout the world. From that time on, Israel became a nation without a land. And nearly two thousand years passed. To be exact, about nineteen hundred years. Then in 1948, do you know what happened? The Jewish people, who had been scattered across the entire world, began to return to the land around Jerusalem, to the land of Israel.

After the Second World War, under the leadership of Britain, the Jewish people who had been scattered across the world were gathered together, and a nation was established for them in that land. Was there no one living there before? Of course, there were—various Palestinian peoples were already living in the land. But suddenly, a nation was set up right there. How could such a thing be possible? Some people, those who do not acknowledge God, say, “That was just because Britain and America helped them.” And yes, they did help. But it was only possible because God was working behind it all. An event like this had never happened in the history of the world: a nation that had disappeared, a people who had lost their land, suddenly being brought back after two thousand years to live again in that very place. And even if someone were to say, “Go back and live there,” how could they? Do you think the people already there would just stand by and say, “Welcome, Israelites, come and live here”? Of course not—they wanted to drive them out, to destroy them. So immediately after Israel declared its independence, either that very year or even the next day, the surrounding nations attacked. But every time they attacked, instead of losing ground, Israel’s territory grew larger. With each attack, their land increased. And so to this day, Israel still possesses the very land that God had promised to Abraham.

But there is still one place they have not yet been able to take back—the Temple in Jerusalem. Right now, on that very spot, an Islamic mosque stands. And what does the New Testament prophesy? That a great war will break out centered on Jerusalem. That war could very well be the Third World War. Why? Because on the very site God promised to Abraham—where Abraham once offered up his son, and where David later built the Temple—the Muslims have now built a mosque. This is a place where neither side is willing to yield. Israel is already preparing for the day when they will reclaim that temple. One day they will. But when that happens, do you think the Islamic powers surrounding them will sit still? Of course not. War will break out. The Bible has already foreshadowed this. When it comes, the whole world will face great turmoil and crisis. And after that, the Lord Jesus will return—just as Scripture has so clearly foretold.

So, look carefully. What God promised to Abraham four thousand years ago is still being fulfilled, and even now, two thousand years later, we are seeing it with our own eyes. Yet no matter what happens here on earth, Jesus already told us plainly: “The land God promised is not this land, not a land on this earth—it is the land in heaven.” And who are the true descendants of Abraham? Not those of his bloodline, but those who share the faith of Abraham. They are the children of Abraham.

So what is the faith of Abraham? It is to believe in the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did, and who raises the dead. That is the god Abraham believed in. And I also believe in this god. I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and I believe that He will raise me as well. That is why I am counted as a descendant of Abraham. And where will I go? I will go to the very place where Jesus has already gone. Before He left, Jesus gave this promise: “I am going to the Father. I see that you are troubled because I said I am going away. Do not be troubled. If I go, I will prepare a place for you. I will prepare a dwelling for you. And if you wonder, ’How can so many people all fit there?’—do not worry. In My Father’s house are many mansions. There is room for you. Do not be afraid. Just be ready to come. And when I have finished preparing everything, I will return and take you to Myself, so that where I am, you may be also.” That is why we believe in Jesus—so that we may go there. And because there are forces trying to shake that faith, we must fight to hold on to it. That is why we worship – to remember His promise again and again. And in worship, we receive the power we need to overcome the many temptations of this world.

So believe this: the very promise this god gave to Abraham has been made clear through Jesus Christ. And just as God raised Jesus from the dead and glorified Him, we too—if we hold the faith of Abraham—will be treated in the same way. We already know whether this god is one who lies or one who truly keeps his promises. We have seen it. He is completely trustworthy.

So, become one with this god. And how do we become one with him? Jesus Himself said, “Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That is why we are baptized in the name of Jesus. Some of you may not yet have been baptized—you must receive it. And when you do, you enter into a covenant with this god. You become one with him. By doing so, you step into his promise and receive the blessings he has prepared. And what must you do? Simply believe. What will He do? He will give you eternal life and true happiness. What is left for you to do? Only to believe—to acknowledge what he has done, to trust him, and to give thanks. Believe that when Jesus came to this earth, died, and rose again, it was for the very purpose of bringing you to heaven. Give thanks to him and simply accept it. It is very simple.

So may every one of you become those who will enter heaven. I bless you in the name of Jesus.

I’ll pray.

Father God, we truly thank You for revealing the reality of the promise You gave to Abraham through Jesus Christ, and for allowing that reality to come upon all of us. Please help everyone here to truly enter the kingdom of God. Grant them the forgiveness of sins, lead them to be baptized in the name of Jesus, and to receive the Holy Spirit. We give You thanks, and we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen!